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MOVIE REVIEW
While not exactly a golden rule, it is known fact that if a movie does well in the box office, chances are good that it will be followed by sequel and more often than not, we’ve come to expect that the sequel won’t measure up to the original. Add a third movie to the mix and you’re just asking for trouble. With animated movies, the expectations are often even lower. (Is anyone really surprised that the Ice Age movies keep getting worse?) But sometimes, as is the case with the Disney/Pixar Toy Story movies, we’re pleasantly surprised. Now you can add How to Train Your Dragon to that short list too.

One thing that DreamWorks Animation has understood about this series is that the story comes first, the hijinks come later. The very first Dragon movie proved that way back in 2010 with a strong story and with each chapter that has come after it, that story just keeps getting better. What started out as a cute kid’s story has become a powerful trilogy. We've seen these chara…

‘The Catch’ is Fun, But is it Sustainable?

TV SHOW REVIEW

In Shondaland, all the residents are beautiful people and all morals can be questioned. That is the case once again The Catch, the newest show from Shonda Rhime’s that airs Thursday nights at 10:00 p.m. on ABC. It is taking the place of How to Get Away with Murder keeping ABC’s silly TGIT campaign going strong. The cat and mouse storyline is simple enough to understand that there are slow flaws in its logic but complicated in way that you can’t tell how.

As you’ve seen in the commercials, Alice Vaughan (Mireille Enos) is a wealthy private investigator who runs her business with best friend, Valerie Anderson (Rose Rollins). The show promises that they will be dealing with some of the most elaborate cases around the world in a career that looks like a lot more fun than it should. Most of these cases, if not all, will be connected with “Mr. X” who learn right off the bat is Alice’s fiancé, Christopher Hall (Peter Krause) who rushes in, sweeps her off her feet and then brushes her money and business contacts aside without her noticing until it’s too late.

Assisting Alice is Danny Yoon (Jay Hayden) who isn’t above breaking a law or two when necessary and Sophie Novak (Elvy Yost) who tries to keep him in line and is a brilliant hacker.

The show makes it clear that Christopher never meant to fall in love with Alice and by doing so, makes him a little sloppy at his job. As the show progresses, Alice and company will be taking on new cases and try to capture Christopher, Mr. X or whoever he is at the same time. As it turns out, FBI Agent Jules Dao (Jacky Ido) is also trying to capture this mysterious man and he would love Alice’s help in bringing him down.

Alice’s beau has his own team too including Margot Bishop (Sonya Walger) who appears to be running his operation and Reggie Lennox (Alimi Ballard) who assists him in his crimes.The pilot episode (which airs tonight and then repeats next Monday, both at 10:00 p.m.) is fun and feels more like a movie than a TV show. The storytelling and visual edits are different enough to stand out. One has to wonder how The Catch will be able to continue this line of storytelling on a regular basis, but if you have seen any of Rhimes’ shows, you know that it will be more than possible as unbelievable plot twist will be topped with yet another unbelievable plot twist as the season goes on.

The Catch is also a lot different from the show it replaces. How to Get Away with Murder features a cast of bad people who do bad things and has failed to cause audiences to have any real empathy for the characters, but The Catch is full of likeable a characters that you can root for. At least in the first episode.

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MOVIES
It’s hard to believe that it’s been five years since everything was awesome, at least in the world of Lego as seen in the original Lego Movie. Since then Lego-themed movies have been released, none of which have been as popular, lucrative or received as much praise from critics as the original.

Now the gang is back in The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part but everything appears to be less awesome as Bricksburg has become Apocalypseburg and is getting worse when this world is threatened by Lego Duplo invaders from outer space. Still, just like is real life, Legos can always rebuild.

It takes a lot of physical and CGI Legos to create a movie. Here is a breakdown on how that looks:

2: The number of characters Chris Pratt, Stephanie Beatriz and Alison Brie play in the film. (Pratt plays Emmet and Rex Dangervest, Beatriz plays General Mayhem and Sweet Mayhem and Brie plays Unikitty and Ultrakitty)

3: The number of times Will Arnett has voiced the role of Batman in a Lego movie.

TVAmerica’s Got Talent: The Champions brought back 50 of the best acts from the different world versions of the show to compete one more time for the chance to win a really impressive (or tall) trophy, $25,000 cash and pretty incredible bragging rights. The two-hour presentation began with an hour full of filler of past acts, silly bits and interviews with the dozen remaining acts hoping to win.

Soon the 12 was whittled down to five including ventriloquist Darci Lynne Farmer, sand artist Kseniya Imonova, card magician Shin Lim, singer Cristina Ramos and comedian Preacher Lawson. And during the show’s last five minutes of the show the winner was revealed.